Turn Me On, Dead Man

[Wolverine]

I found Michael Shermer's latest article (http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=13&articleID=000EB9 77-12BE-1264-8F9683414B7FFE9F) in SciAm quite enjoyable (gotta love the Beatles references.) When reading about further examples of pareidolia as they surface, now I'm bound to hear snippets of Abbey Road or The White Album spin on the mental Wurlitzer. :lol:

[sarongsong]

Great article---and McCartney's Fall Tour (http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=51822) tix just went on sale with reported plans to include more Beatle tunes in concert than before.

[paulie jay]

It’s amazing what people will talk themselves into hearing, once they are told what to listen for. For many years the “Paul is dead” brigade insisted that at the end of “Strawberry Fields Forever” John Lennon says “I buried Paul” when in fact he says (and can be distinguished quite clearly on Anthology II) “cranberry sauce”.

There was a whole paranoia about “backwards masking” during the 1980s which got to the point of whole books being released on the subject. “Rock’s Hidden Persuaders” by Dan and Steve Peters, “The Devil’s Disciples” by Jeff Godwin and "Backward Masking Unmasked” by Jacob Aranza have provided musicians with many hours of unintentional humour!

Here are some of the more tenuous interpretations they have made…

In “Another One Bites The Dust” – Queen – Freddy apparently includes “Decide to smoke marijuana, it’s fun to smoke marijuana, decide to smoke marijuana” somewhere in the song.

“A Child Is Coming” – Jefferson Starship – becomes “son of Satan”.

“Eldorado” – ELO – spin it backwards and you’re supposed to hear “Christ, you are the nasty one, you’re infernal.”

“Hotel California” – Eagles – “Satan had help. He organised his own religion” Funny thing about this one is that they completely ignore the forwards version of these lyrics with its references to Anton LaVey and San Francisco’s Church of Satan!!

“Stairway To Heaven” – Led Zeppelin – when Robert Plant sings “..there’s still time to change the road you’re on…” it magically becomes “…here’s to my sweet Satan…” when played in reverse.

In “Looking For A Stranger” Pat Benatar sings “I can almost hear you calling/ I’m looking for a stranger in my life” but oh no, in reverse she is singing “…And I love it… save us, please, help us Satan, and I love it!”

“Hell’s Bells” – AC/DC – of course AC/DC come in for a lot of stick (why I really don’t know – they’ve always been lyrical pranksters, not devil worshippers). In “Hell’s Bells” apparently the whole second verse played backwards says “I will mesmerise you/ But he is Satan/ Let me out/ Satan has me prisoner”

Yes, I have checked out some of these claims with my turntable and honestly, the similarity between these lines and what you actually hear are the biggest case of wishful thinking I’ve ever come across. With some of them you could just about talk yourself into recognising what you are supposed to hear – but really, these guys just have too much spare time on their hands!

[Celestial Mechanic]

Just wondering--has anyone tried listening to religious music backwards to find "satanic" messages in it? Imagine if something were found in, say, Brahms's German Requiem, or Mozart's Requiem, or Bruckner's Te Deum, or even Palestrina's Pope Marcellus Mass! Hmmm.... :-k

[sarongsong]

"Upload an audio [.wav] file to our server, wait a few seconds for it to be reversed, and then you will hear it played backwards. No download or special software required..."
http://www.talkbackwards.com/

[AGN Fuel]

Just wondering--has anyone tried listening to religious music backwards to find "satanic" messages in it? Imagine if something were found in, say, Brahms's German Requiem, or Mozart's Requiem, or Bruckner's Te Deum, or even Palestrina's Pope Marcellus Mass! Hmmm.... :-k


In the same vein, I reckon that if you tried playing the music of thrash metal bands backwards, you'll find messages like: "Hey, let's just be nice to each other" or "I love what you've done with your living room. Are those drapes new?" :lol:

[Sotos]

I vaguely remember someone insisting that if one played the theme to TV's beloved "Mr. Ed" backwards, one could clearly hear

ride me into hell!

Wilburrrrrrr has some 'splainin' to do.

[Yorkshireman]

I never understood why fundie Christians have to play these albums backwards. Surely if you play a Black Sabbath album forwards, at normal speed, it still says "I am the Prince of Darkness! Kill Yourself!" [/sarcasm]

[teddyv]

Here are some of the more tenuous interpretations they have made…

In “Another One Bites The Dust” – Queen – Freddy apparently includes “Decide to smoke marijuana, it’s fun to smoke marijuana, decide to smoke marijuana” somewhere in the song.

I have heard this one as well and it is fairly discernable. The "another one bites the dust" backwards is "start to smoke marijuana". Given the band I almost think it was intentional in this case. I've heard others but they are all pretty weak, and as mentioned, wishful thinking.

[paulie jay]

Just coincidence - I can assure you. Would you have heard "start to smoke marijuana" if you weren't expecting to hear it? Queen weren't known for their pot smoking... cocaine intake maybe, but pot smoking??